Sleeping Player (Project Chrysalis Book 3) by John Gold (novel24 TXT) 📕

their cooking skills. Kirk tells me that cooking is his only hobby, which is why his tea is so good. Still, the company and having a place to go is the best part. I spend the winter evenings in warmth as the snow falls outside.

For my first job, Anri offers me a life aura, which I go ahead and take.

Spell: Life aura

Description: You radiate an aura of life.

Effect: Restores 438 health/second (intellect/10)

Mana: 1000/minute

Minimum requirement: 200 Life Magic, Level 200

 

The aura burns mana constantly, so I decide to turn it off when I don’t need it.

Anri just smiles when I learn the spell. I turn it up to maximum and snooze in a warm corner of the dorm’s back courtyard, though I’m now always on the alert for the shapeshifter’s next attack.

A week later, my little hiding place is discovered thanks to the flowers growing up through the snow. Vines creep across the wall, and lilies of the valley blossom where I usually sit.

Today, I have a battle for the ninth magic mastery rank. My opponent has the Life Magic skill bumped up to 275.

Happily, across from me is a normal mage, and not a battle mage. He steps closer until he’s five meters away and casts a power of darkness spell. A sphere of complete darkness and silence twenty meters in diameter descends on us. Fire Magic doesn’t do anything, and I start taking light mental damage. All I have to do to avoid my invisible enemy’s attack is step out of the sphere.

“A new victim! Ah, how I love the arena.”

Surprisingly, I don’t hear his footsteps, though I can hear his voice. I’m going to need to learn that spell.

“So, you’re some kind of sadist who likes to torture your victims?”

The mage laughs repulsively. He’s happy, anticipating the fun he’s going to have.

“Did you know that you can heal your opponents in Project Chrysalis? It’s great! You can heal them and maim them for as long as you want, especially since there’s no surrendering in the arena. There are only winners and losers.”

How do you describe the feelings of a sadist like that?

“Yep!”

He comes around to the side and smacks his staff into my knee. A second later, I’ve leaped at him, though he’s already somewhere else, laughing.

“You think you’re the first to try that? The rest are all dead!”

I can’t hear where he is, but I can feel the ground vibrating. For some reason, he thinks nothing will happen to him if he hits me. I stun him, however, and he can’t move.

“And did you know that when you’re stunned, you can’t turn off your aura and other spells? You can’t send a chat to someone asking for help, you can’t remove anything, and you can’t drink potions. Really, you can’t do anything. Of course, you know that, and you’ve thought about using a spell like that in your sadistic games. Your space of darkness may hide what you’re doing from the public, but it doesn’t stun your victim.”

Ten percent of the pain isn’t that much, but it’s still enough to break the will of your opponent forever.

I spend all day in a bad mood. Killing someone is one thing; making them suffer is another.

Tomorrow, I have my battle for the tenth level, the end of my apprenticeship.

Anri finds me at night, already deep in my thoughts and not on my guard. I’m sitting behind the stable, which is starting to sprout.

“Still upset about the duel?”

“Hey, Anri. How did you know?”

“I was the one who organized it yesterday when you submitted the request for your ninth-level exam battle.” The mage smiles and sits down in the snow next to me.

“Why?”

“Your opponent is a nasty guy, a dark mage who likes to torture his victims. Once a week, he shows up to fight and torture, and then he disappears. Three students from my department switched to a different affiliate just so they wouldn’t have to deal with him.”

“And you figured I’d kill him. But what does that change?”

The mage hands me a cup, pulls out a thermos, and pours us some tea. His mood is just as good as ever—nothing going on has him tensing up in the least. He’s there to sit behind the stable in the snow with a student who looks like a beggar, quietly drink tea.

It’s been snowing for a week straight, so Anri is sitting in a drift. I’m on the ground surrounded by flowers. Everything around me has melted, and small shoots have already wound their way around my legs.

“If you’d showed up to work tonight, you’d have understood.”

“Sorry, I completely forgot.”

“That mage left the Life Magic department. Do you remember what I told you about Light and Dark Magic?”

“Light mages are kind; dark mages are secretive.”

“You’re secretive, but you’re also kind. You don’t have the same kind of superficiality other wanderers have. Also, you aren’t afraid to be yourself, and you treat others exactly the way they treat you.”

“I don’t want people to hate me, so I’m always nice to them. But that’s just my low self-esteem. People with strong self-esteem don’t need everyone’s approval—just the approval of the people close to them and their own opinion. It shouldn’t be the way it is for me, where I have to consider both my opinion and other people’s opinions.”

“That’s straying toward egoism. Do you think kindness is a weakness?”

“No, kindness is an expression of strength. It’s all about your self-esteem and how you use your kindness. Kind people with high self-esteem have strong personalities that attract attention and achieve success; people with high self-esteem who aren’t kind are egoists who care nothing about anyone else. In my case, I have both kindness and low self-esteem, which leads to a weak